La Antigua’s Grand Spectacle of Photography 2009
Saturday night the Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española/ Espacioce! hosted what could be one of the greatest photographic spectacles to date in La Antigua Guatemala. We at ArteAntigua were sure not to miss the Foto 30 2009 event. The exhibit “Laberinto de Miradas. Colectivos Fotográficos en Iberoameríca,” seemed endless. And, when we finally did make it through the impressive exhibit, we left hungry for more – the entire presentation was evoking. The exposition was full of photography enthusiasts who appeared thoroughly engaged with the multi-media collection of more than 200 photographs presented through simple black frames, oversized tapestries, videos and more.
The exhibition was separated into two parts: professionals and non-professionals. The professional photographs were left unnamed and unclaimed – and that was the point. The collection was meant to appear as a seamlessly fluid demonstration of Iberoameríca. There were too many standout pieces to record them all but a few that ArteAntigua found particularly evoking include:
Three images of trashed sandals photographed in the Richard Avedon portrait style (clean, white background – a method meant to drive all the focus upon the subject).
A photograph dubbed “Chiquita Bombs” by passersby. The black and white photograph depicted an aerial capture of missiles en route towards their target. However, the artist tagged each banana-shaped missile with the Chiquita Brands International logo. We found it quite provoking and even a bit amusing.
A photograph in the FotoKids selection (included in the non-professional part of the exhibition) of a girl being forced indoors by a man obscured in dark shadow. His hand covering her mouth, her hand braced against the wall leading inside, suggesting a struggle. The image was quite “fuerte.” The entire FotoKids selection seemed to attest to the unique attributes of child photographers as well. Children can often obtain greater accessibility to their subjects. Their images feel as if they’ve been captured in a unique, seemingly non self-censored, perspective.
El Azar published its own Spanish commentary about the exhibit. Here’s a rough translation of the article originally written by Daniel Chauche:
It is a huge collection of more than 200 photographs with images that range between the size of a complete wall to others that are little larger than a postcard. Without a doubt it represents the most important effort of the Foto 30 2009 exposition. Claudi Carreras is the curator of this monumental exhibition that instigates communication and discussion.
“The photographic collectives constitute one of the contemporary phenomenons that are developing with force throughout the international scene. In the exposition we hope to give dimension to this phenomenon, presenting a selection of the most significant groups of the Iberoamerícano community that work specifically within spheres of documentary or social action.”
The exhibit contains a surprising coherence between many of the groups, to the extreme of saying that in some, one can not really perceive the individuality of the different authors that prevail as the vision of the group. Each group is presented as a unit with well elaborated declarations over the intentions and the project that is being exhibited. Claudi classifies two types of groups, that of the professionals and that of the non-professionals. If he hadn’t made this distinction, I would not have been able to say which is which throughout most of the proposals…
There are many lessons to learn from this exhibition. The first is that these impressive groups of photos presented in the exhibit are now patrimony of the world… For years there was an idea that in Guatemala we are doing very little to create and preserve a visual history of the country, something that is so transcendent for our sense of identity. This exposition offers various examples over how we can make something for preventing the visual amnesia of the future.
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[...] the night, I couldn’t help it. Saturday was a whirlwind of creative stimulation. First, the “Laberinto de Miradas. Colectivos Fotográficos en Iberoamérca” exposition at the Centro Cultural de España. Next, the grand opening of El Carmen Galería de [...]